Finding a Problem Worth Solving

The classic mistake is making the product first and looking for buyers second. You spend a month on the thing, launch it to silence, and conclude that digital products don't work. They work fine — the order was backwards. Problems come first, products second.

Evidence of a real problem is lying around in public: the same question asked over and over in forums and community groups, comment sections full of “okay but how do I actually do this,” bad answers ranking in search because nobody wrote a good one. You're not looking for a topic people find interesting — you're looking for a task people are stuck on. Interesting gets a nod; stuck gets a wallet.

The strongest signal of all is a question you yourself paid to answer, or spent painful hours figuring out. Your receipts and your search history are market research. If it cost you real time or money, it's costing someone else the same right now.

Takeaway: don't ask “what could I make?” Ask “what are people visibly stuck on that I've already gotten unstuck from?”